Open thread: Semi-retired president to address something he saw on the news today about Ukraine at 4 p.m. ET; Update: “Ongoing incursion”; Update: No strategy yet on ISIS

posted at 4:01 pm on August 28, 2014 by Allahpundit

Concern will be expressed, disappointment will be felt, and a grim air of deja vu will pervade the scene. You know how this goes. How many of these has he done since Putin started playing his “those aren’t our guys, those are ‘separatists’” game earlier this year? If there are any Russian billionaires left to sanction, I take it by the end of the week a-sanctioned they will be.

Samantha Power minced no words today at the UN in describing what Russia’s up to. Well, almost no words: The word “invasion” has suddenly vanished from her vocabulary, as it has for every other major U.S. diplomat. The impulse there, I suppose, is that the White House feels obliged to poke the bear a little as a matter of American prestige but they’re terrified of how far the new czar might go in Ukraine if he gets poked too hard. “Incursion” and “escalation” are less ominous, and less permanent, than ‘invasion.” Putin has bet so much of his own domestic prestige now on dominating Ukraine that he may have decided that he simply can’t afford to be seen as having lost there. If that means an invasion by inches until there are tens of thousands of Russia troops in the field and the country’s east is secure, then that’s what it means.

No one knows yet which other topics are on O’s agenda. Could be he’ll have an update on ISIS too. There’s news breaking as I write this that James Foley and three other hostages were waterboarded by ISIS while in captivity. I’m expecting some very smart commentary from some very important thinkfluencers on how people known for literally crucifying some of their prisoners never would have done that if the U.S. hadn’t done it to Khaled Sheikh Mohammed first. Or maybe the smart take will be that using waterboarding to try to obtain intelligence from a guy who masterminded flying planes into the Twin Towers is morally indistinguishable from doing it to an infidel journalist for funsies. We’ll see. Hope O takes questions so he can be asked about it.

Update: A smart point, via Noah:

.@jaketapper makes a good point. Amb. Power previously said convoy crossing without permission = invasion. Er, that happened Friday.

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A little birdie told me o is going to attend the nuptials
of George Clooney and the Muslim .
Can’t you all keep priorities in mind . How would you
like to attend a wedding in Europe if the world were
on fire ? He says there’s no reason to be concerned
so there isn’t ! Damnit !

I wonder if all that pot smoking has rendered him incapable of making a decision. No decision on ISIS? The biggest threat we’ve faced in a decade? None of our military leaders have given him any plan whatsoever? Or maybe he’s been given a number of options already and he just can’t make up his mind. That would be my guess. Remember how long it took him to decide about the surge in Afghanistan? Months and months. We don’t have months and months to save people from being slaughtered on the mountain or executed in the desert. These fighters are psychopathic cold-blooded murderers. MAKE A FRIGGIN DECISION for God’s sake.

No, he actually said a lot. It’s just that none of it made any damned sense. More incoherent than usual. Actually said that he didn’t have a plan for dealing with ISIS. His handlers are already trying to walk that one back.

ISIS is Barrack OBlahBlahs army, why would he stop them he created them?

ConcealedKerry on August 28, 2014 at 9:17 PM

True. But some say that Al-Qaeda and the Taliban are to some extent CIA creations. After what’s gone on in Libya and Syria, who can deny that? Also, I think it’s pretty obvious that the U.S. Gov’t really didn’t want to destroy either one of these groups, their various incarnations and franchises.

I still remember a U.S. general sidestepping criticism when the Air Force had around 50 Taliban fighters in their sights attending a funeral for one of their own. The general said they couldn’t nail them because there were children nearby—well, they were off camera he said…you just couldn’t see them…but they were there nonetheless.

OK, maybe so. I would think a smaller bomb or Gatling gun fire may have been alternative options. Because Lord knows the U.S. has never killed foreign kids and written them off as “collateral damage”.

No strategy is a good strategy.
All politics are local. I dare any politician to suggest an intervention in 2014.

Rand Paul seems to be the only adult in the room so far.

weedisgood on August 28, 2014 at 6:54 PM

Even Rand Paul would have done more than Obama… three years ago!

petunia on August 28, 2014 at 7:05 PM

Probably not, which is why I have him at the bottom of my list for 2016 (in addition to his if I smarted off to a cop I wouldn’t expect to get shot comment on Ferguson). A threat such as ISIS cannot be addressed by an isolationist such as Paul.

The term “neoconservative” refers to those who made the ideological journey from the anti-Stalinist left to the camp of American conservatism.[2] Neoconservatives frequently advocate the “assertive” promotion of democracy and promotion of “American national interest” in international affairs including by means of military force.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoconservatism

The term “neoconservative” refers to those who made the ideological journey from the anti-Stalinist left to the camp of American conservatism.[2] Neoconservatives frequently advocate the “assertive” promotion of democracy and promotion of “American national interest” in international affairs including by means of military force.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoconservatism

weedisgood on August 28, 2014 at 10:44 PM

In the morning, when your dumb head is semi clear, look at the clip from Breitbart about 200 Syrian soldiers marching out to be executed in their skivvies. Get back to me. “Sucks to be them” is not an accepted answer.

For some reason, this line from the mediocre film U-571 popped into my mind today:

This is the navy, where a commanding officer is a mighty and terrible thing… a man to be feared and respected. All knowing, all powerful. Don’t you dare say what you said to the boys back there again… “I don’t know.” Those three words will kill a crew, dead as a depth charge. You’re the skipper now, and the skipper always knows what to do, whether he does or not.

In the morning, when your dumb head is semi clear, look at the clip from Breitbart about 200 Syrian soldiers marching out to be executed in their skivvies. Get back to me. “Sucks to be them” is not an accepted answer.

In the morning, when your dumb head is semi clear, look at the clip from Breitbart about 200 Syrian soldiers marching out to be executed in their skivvies. Get back to me. “Sucks to be them” is not an accepted answer.

arnold ziffel on August 28, 2014 at 10:50 PM

Until it happens in El Paso, or New York, it’s none of our business…

And so on and so forth in reality denying fantasy-lands. Let me summarize the ‘philosophy’… ‘If only everyone behaved differently and as I think they should everything would be wonderful’.

Oh, and all the hated directed at us is deserved, because we intervened, or something.

Note that socialists have the same basic ‘philosophy’. They differ in the details. Socialists want to force everyone to think as they do, while condemning anyone who doesn’t as morally horrible. Paulbots just condemn everyone who doesn’t, as morally horrible.

The term “neoconservative” refers to those who made the ideological journey from the anti-Stalinist left to the camp of American conservatism.[2] Neoconservatives frequently advocate the “assertive” promotion of democracy and promotion of “American national interest” in international affairs including by means of military force.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoconservatism

we all know you are an anti-semite who uses your made up “code” for anyone you disagree with politically. while reality is that the hundreds of people who led the country in 2003- just about zero of them were anti-stalinist leftists